Mass Effect: Better Late Than Never
by Embodiment of Rage
Summary: Better late than never, Humanity becomes a galactic power as serious and steadfast rivals to the stoic Council races. Their vast military, alongside their various technologies propel them further than anyone could have imagined in such a short time. Unseen forces move against the galaxy as long hidden plans are set into motion and only one person knows how to prevent them. AU


**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or it's inherent themes, or any other theme that is present in this work of fiction that may be present in other works of fiction. This is created without the goal of financial gain.**

**AN: **Hi there. I know you may be wondering why I have not continued the other story I started. Which to be honest I never intended to. It was an idea I threw out there to hopefully help people think outside the box that Halo/Mass Effect crossovers come to. There are exceptions of course but the base remains.

This story will probably contain many themes from other works of science fiction, which I do not intend to take credit for, if I do take ideas from other sci-fi stories or other works on here, I will state where from.

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**Mass Effect: Better Late Than Never**

_Galactic Codex Entry: Human History_

**2045: **With genetic engineering becoming increasingly available to the general populace, the UN creates a law forbidding the modification of the Human genome to provide additional traits that were are not native to Humanity. Instead, only the further increase and advancement of Humanity's existing traits are allowed.

**2050-2065:** Construction begins on Earth's first orbital elevator or Space-Tether. The funding and construction efforts come from the major nations on Earth. After it's completion, more are planned to be built as well as the first Human settlement on Luna. With the completion of the first of it's kind, the construction costs and times are reduced as materials can now be ferried to orbit cheaply and easily.

**2069:** Armstrong Outpost becomes the first Human settlement on Luna, on the 100th anniversary of the first lunar landing.

**2070-2080: **Earth's second space-tether is starts and finishes construction within this time frame.

**2100: **The European Space Agency's Lowell City in Eos Chasma becomes the first Human settlement on Mars.

**2137: **the Eidfell-Ashland Corporation demonstrates successful extraction of Helium-3 from the atmosphere of Saturn.

**2140-2145: **Earth's third Space-Tether starts and finishes construction in this time frame.

**2146: **The mega corporation Sirta Foundation creates Medi-Gel.

**2170: **Terra-Firmers, a corporation dedicated to terraforming technologies, creates it's long term vision of terraforming Venus into a suitable environment for life native to Earth.

**2175: **Terra-Firmers creates it's first atmospheric processor on Venus, a massive building dedicated to altering the atmosphere of a planet, it is expected to take decades if not a century before Venus could be considered habitable.

**2210: **With more and more atmosphere processor's being built on Venus, time till objective completion reduces dramatically. Terra-Firmers begins setting up facilities at potential settlement sites in preparation.

Sirta Foundation creates Bio-Foam, upon expanding and improving the formula of Medi-Gel, it replaces Medi-Gel due to it's better overall performance.

Scientists create their first Artificial Intelligence (AI) system. The AI is created with shackles that prevent it from disobeying the three laws of robotics.

**2258: **Venus is officially terraformed, causing an influx of colonists to found settlements and begin colonization. Construction of Venus' first space-tether is begins.

**2266: **Venus' first space tether is completed with more planned.

**2287: **Graviton technology, technology which manipulates the graviton particle, is created. It's speculated impact on Human society is immense.

The first meeting of the Assembly, an unknown amount of AI's who meet to debate about their role in Human society and how to help better protect their makers, occurs at this time.

**2293: **Terra-Firmers announce their plans to terraform Mars, work begins a year later.

**2358: **Mars is officially terraformed.

**2387: **A conflict breaks out on Venus as Insurrectionists rebel against their governments who are native to Earth. Various nations of Earth deploy forces to eliminate the extremist factions before they damage too much infrastructure on Venus.

**2388-2396: **The conflict which erupted on Venus saw Humanity develop and introduce new technologies into it's military. The first deployment of ODST's (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) occurs during this conflict, as well as the deployment of Support class vessels which, among other roles, deploys fire-bases to help rapidly secure territory.

This conflict did see the inclusion of brief conflicts on Mars, Earth and Luna aboard various space stations.

**2415: **The Concordance Extraction Corporation (CEC) develops it's first planet cracker vessel. A vessel intended to rapidly mine and harvest materials in the asteroid field but has the capability to mine planets by using graviton technology to tear out parts of the planet for vivisection. But it's use isn't seen on planets but rather small moons and asteroids.

**2448: **Humanity discovers Mass Effect physics.

Humanity discovers a subterranean facility in Mars' south polar region of Promethei Planum. The facility was created by a race who left the facility over 50,000 years ago. Building on the highly advanced technology left behind by the Protheans, Humanity begun quickly exploring the science of mass effect physics. The development of FTL travel is developed.

**2449: **Following information from the translated data cache on Mars, Humans discover that Charon, Pluto's moon, is actually a massive piece of dormant Prothean technology, a mass relay, encased in ice. Once activated, Jon Grissom leads the first team of explorers through the relay, which instantaneously transports them to another relay in Arcturus, 36 light-years away. The explorers discover that the mass relays are part of a vast network, making travel across the galaxy possible.

The Systems Alliance charter is signed by the 18 largest nations on Earth, others follow suit shortly. The Alliance becomes the military and exploratory spearhead of Humanity.

**2450: **The Alliance conducts it's first surveys outside the Sol system for colonization, among these are the planets of Terra Nova, Eden Prime and Demeter. Eden Prime and Terra Nova are already garden worlds but Demeter requires terraforming.

Construction of Sol station begins.

**2451: **To help defend it's rapidly expanding territory, the Systems Alliance begins construction of ships to expand it's already extensive military fleet.

**2452: **The Delta Pavonis Foundation, a major consortium from Earth, Mars and Venus begins settlement of the first extra-solar planet on Terra Nova. Later this year settlements are founded on Eden Prime. On Demeter, atmosphere processors are built and settlements are planned.

The Systems Alliance begins construction of additional orbital shipyards alongside various repair and refit stations.

**2455: **The Systems Alliance begins occupying completed sections of Sol Station, which is intended to become the headquarters of the Alliance.

**2456: **Sol station is officially completed and inaugurated.

**2457: **Pluto's orbit becomes circularized as a result of mass relay operations.

Humanity's First Contact War begins at the colony of Chi Ceti. Otherwise known as the Relay 317 incident by the Turians. After two months of naval confrontations and ground side engagements, the Citadel Council intervened when they discovered Humanity and they forced a truce and cessation of hostilities. The First Contact War ends at the Turian colony of Hephaestus, which had recently been taken by Alliance forces.

**2458: **The Alliance learns the potential of biotics, but with reports state that almost no element zero exposures have occurred. The Alliance purchases Gagarin station for a fraction of it's construction price, converting it into the largest repair and refit station for Alliance vessels.

**2460: **With the massive increase in public support for it's actions in the First Contact War, the Systems Alliance founds it's parliament and becomes the face of Humanity on the galactic stage.

**2465: **After years of rapid expansion into more nearby systems and further economic and military build up, the Alliance starts building trading alliances with the various races in the galaxy who recognize the authority of the Citadel Council. The Council accepts the Systems Alliance's request for an embassy on the Citadel, the cultural, economic and political heart of the galaxy. The Council officially recognizes the growing power of Humanity.

The Systems Alliance signs the Citadel Conventions but disputes arise over the Treaty of Farixen. Humanity adamant that it will not lower it's Dreadnought count which is already higher than it's associate member status can allow. After much debate, the Systems Alliance agrees to not produce more Dreadnoughts, but will not remove any existing vessels.

Initially thought of as a victory by the Citadel Council, it quickly became apparent that Humanity's military consists of various ships of Dreadnought size and fire-power, however are designated to different roles and designations. Such as the Carrier and Support vessels which are at least a kilometre long and have deadly mass accelerator cannons alongside various other roles.

Debates and disputes arise over this discovery but the Council cannot gain any leverage as they are not Dreadnought vessels as clearly stated by their design which isn't covered in the Treaty of Farixen.

Arguments arise over Humanity's use of AI's with the Council attempting to gain leverage in this area, to at least prevent another morning war. Humanity also remains defiant that it's AI's are not dangerous as they proudly explain that not a single accident or death has occurred in relation to AI's since their creation, they also show the amount of lives saved by them further strengthening their position. With no real ground to gain leverage, the Council is forced to drop the subject and allow Humanity to continue building AI's.

**2465-2470: **Humanity continues to rapidly expand, competing with the Batarians for control of the Skyllian Verge. Though no hostilities occur, tensions grow rapidly. The Human colony of Mindoir is attacked by pirates and slavers, the Alliance is left unable to respond as they have no leads. Accusations arise over the apparent Batarian funding of slavers and pirates. The Hegemony denies all accusations.

**2471: **The Batarians petition the Council to declare the Skyllian Verge a zone of Batarian interest. They refuse, leaving the worlds open to Human colonization. The Batarians close their embassy in protest as they withdraw to their home systems and effectively become a rogue state.

**2476: **Pirates and Slavers launch a surprise attack in the Verge which later becomes known as the Skyllian Blitz. Alliance Forces hold their ground across all fronts, the foremost being Elysium where the largest concentration of pirates attacked. The Alliance forces them back quickly and begins it's campaign to root them out of the Verge.

**2477: **Pirates raid Akuze and a large naval battle ensues as the Alliance decimates the pirate forces. Ground side engagements become gruesome as Thresher Maws awake and attack both sides. Still, the Alliance secures victory.

**2478: **The culmination of the Skyllian Blitz occurs as Alliance forces arrive at Torfan, the moon base for the entire pirate and slaver forces.

Alliance forces decide to not waste lives trying to root out the deeply entrenched enemy, instead they set up graviton anchors after securing large sections of the moon. After gruesome battles waged in the claiming and defence of the anchors, Alliance ground forces evacuate as several planet cracker vessels tear the moon apart. The Skyllian Verge falls under Alliance control and pirate forces retreat into the Attican Traverse. Very few raids on Human colonies occur after this point.

**2482: **Human, Turian, Salarian and Asari scientists collaborate on an engineering project co-sponsored by the Citadel Council: an experimental Frigate with prototype technologies from all factions. It's intention is ease tensions between the Alliance and the Council races. The completed vessel is gifted to the Alliance, the SSV Normandy. Captain David Anderson is given command of the vessel, with Commander John Shepard assigned as executive officer.

**2483: **Current date.

_Galactic Codex Entry: First Contact War_

The First Contact War, or as it is known to the rest of the galaxy as the Relay 314 incident, began when Human explorers attempted to open a dormant mass relay. This practice has been considered illegal by the Citadel Council and it's associate races since the end of the Rachni Wars thousands of years ago. A Turian patrol fleet encountered the Human explorers and attempted to forcefully halt their plans. One vessel survived and retreated to the Human colony world of Chi Ceti with the Turians in pursuit.

The Turians assaulted the fleet that defended it. They set themselves up for an orbital siege of the planets remaining ground forces. The forces the Turians defeated is what they assumed to be the bulk of Human defences and were unprepared when the 2nd Fleet under Admiral Kastanie Drescher launched a strong counter-offensive. No casualties were sustained by the Alliance fleet.

Both sides mobilized for full-scale war. Human fleets began to enter Turian space and a total of 3 naval battles ensued. Two of which were Turian losses. The Turians, up against an enemy capable of mass attrition warfare like itself among various other strategies, began to lose ground. When a Human fleet defeated the defences of the planet Hephaestus, they repaid the Turians by bombarding cities with mass accelerator rounds from orbit, just as the Turians had at Chi Ceti.

The Citadel Council learned of the rising conflict when a Human fleet attacked at Hephaestus, which news quickly spread. The Council intervened and forced both sides to a truce. The Turians were forced to pay reparations for instigation of the conflict. The events were considered nothing more than a policing actions by the Turians, but it was Humanity's first contact with an alien race and would dictate their views on galactic politics for decades to come.

The conflict earned Humanity great, if fearful, respect. No one had been able to challenge Turian supremacy in naval warfare for thousands of years but Humanity showed it's capacity for war in a manner of different ways, stunning various experts with their versatility and adaptability.

Fortunately for the Galaxy, the First Contact War ended with a diplomatic solution.

On a final note, it is a point of pride for Humanity that Chi Ceti had not been fully conquered as ground side forces continued to resist up until their liberation. No Human world has been conquered by an alien species.

_Galactic Codex Entry: Systems Alliance_

The Systems Alliance is a supranational government representing the interests of Humanity as a whole. The Alliance is responsible for the governance and defence of all Human territories, be that extra-solar colonies or space stations.

The Alliance grew out of the various nation space navy's as a matter of practicality. Sol's various planets had been explored exploited through national efforts. After terraforming Venus and Mars, it was clear that not anyone nation could fund the colonization of extra-solar worlds as evidence by the joint funding of terraforming projects. With Humans knowing that alien contact was inevitable, after the discovery of the Prothean ruins, there was enough political will to unify under a single banner.

Still, the Alliance was disregarded by the majority of the public until the First Contact War. The Alliance's swift and deadly response to the Turian invasion of Chi Ceti and counter-offensive into Turian space earned them the respect of their people.

The Systems Alliance has become a major rival to the Turians and by extension, the Asari and Salarians. The Alliance navy, comprised of vessels before it's creation which had been retrofitted, upgraded and bolstered by the fleets recently constructed has surpassed the Salarian navy in terms of size, just under that of the Asari Navy and only at half the size of the Turian navy.

With more fleets planned to be built, the Alliance navy will no doubt continue to increase in size.

_Galactic Codex Entry: Citadel Conventions_

These diplomatic talks occurred in the wake of the Krogan Rebellions, as a response to the destruction of the conflict and an attempt to distance the Council from the brutal Krogan warfare.

The Conventions regulate the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction. A WMD causes environmental alteration to a world. A bomb that produces a large crater is not considered a WMD; a bomb that causes a "nuclear winter" is.

Use of WMD is forbidden on "garden" worlds like Earth, with ecospheres that can readily support a population. If a habitable world is destroyed, it will not be replaced for millions of years. The Conventions do not forbid the use of WMD on hostile worlds or in sealed space-station environments. Many militaries continue to develop and maintain stockpiles.

The Conventions graded Weapons of Mass Destruction into tiers of concern. Tier I is the greatest threat to galactic peace.

TIER I: Large kinetic impacters, such as asteroid drops or de-orbited space stations. Effectively free and available in any system (in the form of debris left over from planetary accretion), kinetic impacters are the weapons of choice for terrorists and "third galaxy" nations.

TIER II: Uncontrolled self-replicating weapons, such as nanotechnology, viral or bacteriological organisms, "Von Neumann devices", and destructive computer viruses. These weapons can lie dormant for millennia, waiting for a careless visitor to carry them on to another world.

TIER III: Large energy-burst weapons such as nuclear or antimatter warheads.

TIER IV: Alien species deliberately introduced to crowd out native forms necessary for the health of an ecosystem. Ecological tampering can take years to bear fruit, making it difficult to prove.

_Galactic Codex Entry: Treaty of Farixen_

The Treaty of Farixen is a treaty signed by Council races limiting the number of Dreadnoughts among the different Citadel races in their given fleets. At the Farixen Naval Conference, the Council races agreed to fix a ratio of Dreadnought construction between themselves due to their destructive potential. At the top of the pyramid is the peacekeeping Turian fleet which makes up most of the Citadel Fleet. Second, are the other Council races – the Asari and the Salarians. Council associate races, like the Hanar and Volus, are at the bottom of the list.

The ratio of Turian to Council to associate dreadnoughts is 5:3:1, which essentially means for every five dreadnoughts the Turians construct, the Asari and Salarians are allowed three, and all other Citadel races one. Signing the Treaty of Farixen is a requirement for any race wishing to open an embassy on the Citadel.

The most recent race to sign this is Humanity, however as they already controlled double the amount of Dreadnoughts they are allowed to have has caused many discussions and heated debates between Humanity and the Council races. This eventually culminated in the allowance of Humanity's existing Dreadnoughts, but prevented them from building more.

Humanity however, didn't concern itself too much with this as they continue to build many Carrier and Support class vessels which are equal in length to their Dreadnoughts. Though they have powerful mass accelerator cannons, they are not of the same devastating effect as a Dreadnought. This allows them to build continue to build them without impunity.

The next scheduled meeting of the Farixen Naval Conference is expected to limit the construction of Carriers and Support class vessels. The next meeting is at the end of 2483.

_Galactic Codex Entry: Human Relations_

The Systems Alliance has had an embassy on the Citadel since 2465. Many other species dislike their sudden ascendancy onto the galactic stage compared to their status as relative newcomers as a space faring society. Some species feel that Humanity is overly expansive, aggressive and reckless in it's colonization efforts and their technological pursuits (AI). Many feel threatened by Humanity's aggressive attempts to advance it's position in galactic affairs. It took other species centuries to what Humans have accomplished in decades, this includes the rate of technological advancement.

Humanity has advanced it's position greatly by doing what the other Citadel races could not, establish colonies across the Skyllian Verge, the Attican Traverse and along the borders of the Terminus systems. As well as stabilizing large swaths of territory, the economic and military expansion of Humanity has earned them further advances in politics.

Unlike many races in Citadel space, Humans have no close allies among the other races though they have established trade alliances with various races. Without key alliances or political allies, Humanity is forced to listen to council rulings without any real influence.

Politically, the Alliance is a peaceful trade partner with the Turian Hierarchy. As a practical matter, however, lingering animosity, bigotry and antagonism remains between them both due to the actions of both sides during the First Contact War.

Though no Human would unconditionally trust a Salarian, the Alliance has formed a few trade alliances and scientific endeavour's. Their shared restless and reckless ways make them natural allies against the conservative Turians and Asari.

Very little has occurred between the Asari Republics and the Systems Alliance, this is due to Asari conservatism and their view of Humanity as reckless and aggressive. They openly share their opinion with Human diplomats, who in turn take it in stride as a point of pride. They have a civil if strained relationship.

Due to Elcor conservatism, the Alliance has no trade relations with the Elcor though they enjoy a civil and cordial relationship.

The Hanar have little trade relations with the other races, they are not likely to consider trade relations with the Alliance for years to come but maintain a civil relationship. The Hanar Illuminated Primacy has requested access to the Prothean archive on Mars, but has been denied by the Alliance. This has likely frustrated the Hanar as such sites are key to their religion. The Alliance however, doesn't want protesters delaying their research.

The Volus as being an extension of the Turian Hierarchy, has a few trade relations with the Alliance. They are particularly interested in Human terraforming technologies which are ahead of the rest of the galaxy by a significant margin. The Volus have recently hired the Human corporation Terra-Firmers to make a planet in the Volus home cluster habitable to the Volus.

The Alliance has no formal relations with the Quarian race. This is likely due to their ingrained hostility towards AI's which the Alliance uses indiscriminately. That or because they haven't yet passed through any Human system.

The Krogan have no unified government and do not have diplomatic relations with the rest of the galaxy period. This is likely due to the clan warfare which persists to this day. Individuals are treated as criminals, a reputation which most enjoy living down to.

The Alliance severed diplomatic relations with the Batarians when they claimed to have found evidence linking the Batarian Hegemony to funding pirates to attack Human settlements. Officially there is no war between them, but neither is there any peace. Raids on Batarian outposts by Alliance forces are likely to antagonize the rogue state.

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**Authors Note: **So there's the time line for this story from the discovery of mass effect physics and up to the start of Shepard's story. I hope you enjoyed what you read, this fic is no way meant to be a dick waving contest and "fuck yeah Humanity!". I wanted to portray us in a stronger role in the mass effect universe and hopefully I can weave that into this story without discrediting everything the Council races take for granted.

Humanity's impact on the galaxy will hopefully be greater in this fic and in comparison to the Humanity in mass effect, they can gain a better reputation amongst the denizens of the galaxy, I won't tell you what type of reputation 'cause that would ruin the point of the story. Oh, if you didn't know this story is vastly AU. For starters, there are barely any Human biotics, technologies from games like Dead Space, Halo, Mass Effect have been interwoven but not all have been added. Just a few from each and I suppose some themes will be present from all. Obviously the Reapers are present, but things like [Redacted] and perhaps even [Redacted] may be given some spotlight in some shape or form.

This is the story I will continue with and keep posted for further updates.

Embodiment of Rage.


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